Retirement date

Q. I am under the FERS retirement system. I plan to retire in December of 2015 with an effective date of Dec. 31, 2015. Would this be a good retirement date, or do I need to wait until Jan. 1, 2016?

A. Waiting would be a bad idea. If you retire no later than Dec. 31, 2015, you’d be on the annuity roll in January and entitled to your first annuity payment in February. If you retire Jan. 1, 2016, you won’t be on the annuity roll until February, and you won’t receive your first annuity payment until March.